Saturday, June 23

Sonics: Goodbye Locke, Hello Marques?

"Scooter" Presti's extreme make-over of the Seattle Supersonics continued today as the team announced the firing of radio announcer David Locke:

The team removed his posts from its Web sites on Friday, terminated his two-year contract and notified employees of the decision in an e-mail.

The Sonics are expected to announce the decision today, although it is not clear if the team will replace Locke with another announcer or return to a simulcast with the television broadcast.

Locke, 36, took over last year when the Sonics became the last NBA team to separate its broadcasts and moved to KTTH-AM (770). He had worked at KJR (950 AM) for the previous eight years and was a play-by-play announcer for the Seattle Storm for seven seasons.from the Seattle Times

Frankly, ever since the Sonics stupidly moved the radio broadcasts to the right-wing toilet bowl known as KTTH, I refused to listen to games on the radio. Plus, as much as I like David Locke, Kevin Calabro is the voice of the Sonics (sorry Bob!).

Things look brighter on the TV side, though, with the P.I. and Times reporting that Supersonicsoul's all-time favorite color commentator Marques Johnson may soon be returning to Seattle. KC and Marques together again? It's like Christmas in July.

6 comments:

Anonymous
said...

I second the thought regarding ultra-conservative and crappy reception having KTTH. I hope KJR come to their senses and re-sign with Sups, afterall it was the Sups and their several playoff runs during the 90s that carried KJR made it what it is today..

Having MJ and KC back on KJR with Durant coming in...Woooooo...Did someone say..Get on up for the downstroke!! Sho Nuff..

Hate to hear this... NOT. Dave is a bad guy who thought he was the best in the business. Bad voice, ridiculously large ego, and quite a name dropper. I hope he finds work again for his families' sake, but he needs to learn a little humility.

I'll say this for Locke: While I didn't love him on the radio, he did a great job of giving information to fans on the Sonics' web site. I look at a lot of team sites for information, and Locke's info is better than probably just about any other site. Combined with the fact that he was putting stuff up almost 2 or 3 times a day means we were getting tons of information absolutely free.

Secondly, the way the organization let him go is really bad, which is not surprising considering the way they've done everything else recently. Here you've got a guy who busts his rear every day to promote you - going way above the call of duty of a typical radio guy (think about how much you hear from KC about the Sonics compared to Locke, as an example) - and he gets dumped on a weekend with nothing more than a see ya later. Add in the fact that he got stuck broadcasting what was arguably the worst year in team history, then he gets fired when the team is on the cusp of making a huge improvement next year, and, well, it just stinks for him.

David, for as much crap as you put up with as the commentator, you deserved much better.

Now ....!! If they will only get rid of the two homers (without any redeeming skills) on the TV broadcasts, it may be possible to watch a game without hearing the constant disparaging remarks about the opposition players. No respect given - just "cute" smart-alec remarks. Total lack of professionalism. Seattle deserves better. Great game tonight by Watson.